TRADE EFFICIENCY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17118, 13 April 1921, Page 10

TRADE EFFICIENCY.

'DAILY MAIL" EXHIBITION. (from our own- correspondent.) LONDON, February 24. One realises after a visit to the "Daily Mail' ! Efficiency Exhibition, which is now being held at Olympia, 4iow many great brains are at work, and how many organisations have been established to further the progress of tike nation both mentally and materially. Although the enterprising London "doily" doubtless has an eye to its own welfare, the greatexhibition which it has promoted serves to focus public attention on those trade developments, mechanical devices, and up-to-date processes which are really available if the people only knew where to look for them. Of all the marvellous calculating machinery, probably one most interesting to New Zealand is that known as ths Powers System, an American invention which this year is to be used in the census taking of the Dominion. These machines are in use in railway companies, insurance offices, banks, and other business hoxtses in tihis country. It ia easy to see what an .amount of work it will save. The perforations which represent the facts are made by means of a punching machine, which is operated in a similar manner, to a typewriter, the cards being automatically fed, perforated, and ejected. Once tllus part of the process is accomplished, the rest is ljewildering in its speed. The classification of the cards is accom?liahed by means of a sorting machine, t is thus possible to isolate rapidly nil information Telating to any department, kind of material, district, or date, thfl sorter working at thp rate or 18,000 an hour. But tho third machine tunis tiho dots on the cards into visible writing and figures, giving a total of each column at the foot of the page. Armless Mechanics. The Ministry of Labour's section, showing ex-Service men engaged on their various trades, is a feature of absorbing interest. Here are' onearmed men carrying on all' kinds of mechanical trades, from diamond-cut--ting to ladies' hair-dressing, but the carpentering -work perhaps is the largest section. Each man lhas a business-like artificial metal arm, and all the tools •are so constructed as to be easily fitted into the end of the arm. The Customer's Credit. A mammoth, machine which registers every transaction in the biggest business, and tells a man just bow his bank balance stands from hour to hour, is tho latest device of the National Cash Register,. While business men are interested in thiß machine, the woman who buys his goods is interested in a telephone system devised by this great firm as a check ojion. credit customers. While Mrs Jones; who has_ possibly overdrawn ner credit at the big store, is waiting for her purchase to be delivered oyer the counter, the assistant is pressing a button whioh causes a' little bulb to glow in the distant counting-house.. A whispered word over" the telephone is sufficient—(just "Mrs Jones (address),. £10." The call .goes through l to : th 6 ledger clerk who keeps Mis Jones's ao? count. In less time than it takes to tell the story the reply comes. If Mrs Jones's credit is good, the bill for tho goods which the assistant has slipped into the telephone apparatus is stamped "approved." If it is doubtful, a faint buzz comes to the keen.assistant's ear,, and with the greatest jjolitenesß she asks Mrs' Jones to step round to the counting-house and explain matters. Thus the firm is protected, the assistant relieved of responsibility,. and Mrs 'Jones gets a lesson'in business efficiency.' . , Revolutionising; Goal Process. , In view of the increasing cost of coal, the exhibit of the Low Temperature Carbonisation, Ltd., is another interesting economical process. The company have already established' their works at Barnsley< and are doing good work, the demand for their'products being far in excess of their present output. One may see the smokeless fuel being burned in various forms of grates, and although such a large quantity of the by-products has been recovered, the 'Coalite" has a radiant heat much greater than that of raw coal, for the reason that so much of the. latter goes up the chimney with the draught. The company has certainly perfected a process which ought to do much to remove the stigma of our national dependence on foreign countries in this domain. They assert that ;if; the: bulk of our coal were, carbonised by their low-*em-perature process, wo could not only supply our home requirements in regard to oil and motor spirit, but be in the happy position of having a large surplus for export. , Truly this is no small matter, but, one which may. eventually revolutionise our industry and result in the yearly having of many millions of pounds to the nation. The advantage of the'new method is the fact that not only does it mean the getting of a higher yield of oils compared with other processes, but also fhat 70 per cent, of the original weight of coal is recovered as smokeless fuel, which a trial will)prove to the most sceptical .to be; bettor than raw coal for domestic heating. Over and above the other economies of the system there is also a lower scale of working costs, which necesWily means high profits per ton of coal carbonised. From one ton of coal may be made 16 to 18 gallons of oil of a quality similar to crude petroleum; three gallons of best refined motor spirit, suitable for motor-cars and aeroplane engines; 14cwt. of smokeless fuel, > which is claimed to bo more than twice os efficient as raw coal efor heating rooms: 7000 cubic feet of gas; and 201b of sulphate of ammonia. New Energy' Transmitter. Another revolutionising process at work is the wave power machine, which demonstrates the transmission of power by waves through .fluid. Practical demonstrations are given of riveting and rock-drilling in hard granite, conclusively proving that a sixth practical method for the transmissidn or energy is now available for all power users. The Great Central Railway figures largely in another exhibit, in which the genius ef its chief engineer is displayed in the "Robinson" marine and* locomotive superheaters. In this system a great increase in efficiency and a lower Fuel cost are obtained by passing the saturated steam through the boiler again before it goes into the main pipe. It has been applied' to thousands of locomotives in ail parts of the world, 'and is now being installed by many great lines for marine work. •By means of the Optophone the blind men "see" by hearing. You may put oh the ear-caps and close the eyes, and listen to the delicate musical notes which come .when a tiny spot of light travels over the printed page. T)ne by one the notes separate themserves. This is A and that B. Some are tiny staccato notes, others have little harmonious variations. A girl, blind from birth, who has been taught to read by this method, now saya that the reading gives her a most pleasurable emotion, like listening to fine music beautifully played.' One urge section is devoted to the science ana. study of/motion in work, the elimination of fatigue, and the improvement of production. Several ori ganisations are drawing attention to ! their aim of bringing the employer and the employees together for the common good of both. The exhbition is a great achievement, for it is based*on the principle that efficiency is the path to lasting prosperity, "which Labour and Capital can together tread on the best of terms. For Capital it means the lesesning of costs; for Labour it means emancrpa-

tlon from the drudgery and soul-deaden- f ing routine compelled by archaic methods. Tlie promoters have certainly . provided a new vision of everyday endeavours, and gone far towards the presentation of a solution of the 'pressitm . problem of how to retain prosperity for the individual and the nation.